Indians of the Most of us think of the Indians of the Old West as violent and murderous, but the truth is that not all of them were that way. When people move to a new area or a new country, they don’t really know some of the important things, like the weather and what to do when it comes in with a vengeance. Such was the case in the Winter of 1886 in Dakota Territory, when a Swedish family had recently immigrated.
As the story goes, during the harsh Dakota Territory winter of 1886, two families…one Lakota and one Swedish immigrant…were stranded just miles apart in the worst blizzard in ten years. The Anderssons, new to the plains, had no idea how quickly the storm would hit. Their oxen froze, their woodpile disappeared under six feet of snow, and their baby grew weaker with each passing hour. The family was totally unprepared for the severity of the blizzard, and in the absence of immediate help, they were headed for death and very soon. The problem was that they were on a homestead, and it was very remote. Thankfully for them, help was closer than they knew.
Across the frozen creek, Elk Woman of the Oglala Lakota felt something was wrong. Her sixteen-year-old son, 
Wiyaka, had noticed smoke becoming thin at the Anderssons’ cabin. She loaded pemmican, blankets, herbs, and fuel for the fire onto a sled and set off with him into the silent white. They arrived just before dark to find the Anderssons on the edge of frostbite, crying with relief. Elk Woman, who didn’t speak English, acted swiftly…feeding the baby warm broth from a horn spoon, wrapping the mother’s hands in rabbit pelts, and feeding the fire with the dried buffalo dung she’d brought from home. They couldn’t talk to each other, and I suppose the Anderssons could have been terrified initially, but then they were dying anyway, so if the Indians had killed them, it would have simply hastened their release in death. They were suffering horribly, so death would not have been the worst option. Nevertheless, they were not killed, but rather Elk Woman and Wiyaka were there to save them.
For six days, the Lakota family stayed with the Anderssons, showing them how to insulate walls with snow, melt water safely, and preserve food. On the seventh day, the skies cleared, and they left quietly. There was 
still no way to talk to each other. No way to say, “thank you” for all they had to for them. The Anderssons shared the story for generations, though many neighbors doubted it. Then, years later, their granddaughter discovered a beaded sash in a box of heirlooms, marked with the Lakota word wowachantognaka: generosity. I suppose there might still be those who doubt the story, but I personally believe it. Elk Woman was a mother, and she knew what she would want to happen if the roles had been reversed. She knew she couldn’t sit idly by while the Anderssons perished. She knew she was the only one who could save them, and she knew that she would do so.
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